Dark Paradise
by silversurf4
Summary: Post One imagining. Reese is suspended, Crews back in jail, Rayborne is back in play - what could go wrong? Rated T for language and violence.
1. Chapter 1

**Dark Paradise** – Chapter 1

It was a full week after the misadventure with Roman had ended.

Nevikov was dead, Rayborn was alive, Charlie Crews was back behind bars and Dani Reese was in hell.

Officially, Reese was on administrative leave, until such time as the shrink cleared her to return to work, which might be never because she steadfastly refused to go see a counselor, any counselor - ever. Charlie Crews remained detained in County for a host of alleged infractions.

He didn't even fight when they arrested him. He simply held his arms out for the cuffs, much like Roman had when they first arrested him. _Was it because Crews knew, as Roman had, – that they couldn't hold him?_ It made Dani's head hurt to think they were anything alike – her tormentor/captor and her partner/savior. It didn't change the fact that Crews was imprisoned until such time as the circumstances of that fateful day were clear to IAD, which they never would be.

Both of them were stuck in limbo.

On day seven, it was official, Tidwell was driving Dani Reese stark raving mad. The problem was he hadn't done anything wrong. He'd worked hard to resolve things at the department during the day and come home to her each night sharing what he knew. He had been the picture of a doting boyfriend; patient, calm, supportive and tender. Only Dani didn't want that, more accurately she didn't want him. It both confounded and infuriated her that the one person she wanted was the man she was certain she'd never want – Crews.

She'd had days to examine what had changed between herself and her partner. And she had discussed it, them..the idea that Crews & Reese were now more than just partners – with the only person she trusted - her mother. Tidwell left her each morning when he left for work at her childhood home and eventually, relief had turned to questions.

Day One when she came home involved a detailed recitation of what had landed her in the clutches of a psychopath. That day ended darkly, when she shared Roman's claim of killing Jack with her mother. Much to Dani's surprise, her mother was not surprised to learn that the famous LAPD SWAT Captain travelled in those circles. As the week wore on and Dani accepted the only type of therapy she ever would, conversations lapsed into Farsi and dipped into deep introspection.

Dani explained how when they were initially partnered, she thought him a dolt, then a borderline psychopath and finally a warrior angel. Talking it out helped her realize that she'd been through many phases with him before arriving at where she was now. She remembered the chilly reception she'd given him, the grudging acceptance and then nearly fraternal bond they'd developed. Slowly as people kept assuming they were closer, it dawned on her that they were. Without even really trying to, they'd become almost inseparable. He finished her most of her sentences and a lot of her thoughts, before she spoke them. He was tuned into her and she was to him. It was never more obvious than in the weeks they were separated. She described how she could see and know what he was doing while talking to him on the phone, without even seeing him. When her mother commented, almost casually, that it takes most married couples years to achieve the state she and Crews were in; Dani absently remarked it had been three years, completely ignoring the characterization they were a couple.

Two days later, Dani's mother wrung the confession from her at the family kitchen table with a simple question.

"Why do you sleep with one man when you clearly love another?"

Dani's dark look made it clear the slender arrow had struck its intended target.

"Each night this man, Kevin…"

"Tidwell," Dani corrected.

"He comes here and collects you as though you are his, but you are not."

"No, I'm not," Dani admitted finally.

"Your heart belongs to this Charlie, you speak of. It is he you talk of. He, whom you cannot let go of. This man holds your heart, Dani and I think he must love you too – to have made such a sacrifice."

"He does," Dani admitted dully, as though she'd only just noticed and the revelation shocked her, "he loves me."

"Then you must end this charade and tell him," her mother demanded. "You deserve love, not simply comfort. This man stirs your heart in a way no other has."


	2. Chapter 2

**Dark Paradise **– Chapter 2

It was Dani's mother who took her to see him, in his orange jumpsuit at County.

Tidwell would have objected. He would have freaked out and railed against it. He knew, even without her saying, that something indefinable has changed between them. It was there, in the subtle, but noticeable way he'd been less than complimentary of Crews ever since the incident with Roman. She knew he respected her partner's physicality and strength, but she'd never noticed the jealousy until now.

She noticed Crews immediately. He was a head taller and far paler than the mostly Hispanic and black population of the yard. His shock of red hair blazed in the sun. She didn't wave or signal, but watched as he noticed her. Just his eyes moved as he stood with his back to a concrete wall and arms folded. Men lifted weights and played basketball around him, but prison did not touch him. He was somewhere else.

She went inside, signed in and asked her mother to wait in the car.

When they brought him, it was to a room with a small table and two chairs. He was handcuffed with his hands in front of him. "Take those off him," she demanded angrily.

"Sorry, lady. No can do," the guard said. "This one? He's dangerous," the guard sat Charlie in the chair. "Killed a man up at Pelican Bay with his bare hands."

She began to object. Crews knew he could still kill handcuffed. They underestimated his lethality and he knew it, but he spoke softly and calmly, just to her. "It's okay," he said simply. "Just breathe."

She nodded almost imperceptibly, and eased as the guard explained the buzzer and asked if she wanted him chained to the table. Her expression of disgust said all she wanted to but couldn't and then finally the two partners were left alone.

Crews joked with her, "alone at last." His smile didn't reach his eyes.

"How…how are you?" she stammered fidgeting with her hands atop the table.

He was dark and his mood dour, "back where I belong I guess." Prison had seeped in and blotted out the sunshine in his soul. "But shouldn't I be the one asking? How are you….Reese?" He wanted to use her given name but didn't at the last minute. Better not to want something, they'd just take it away.

She fell into what was familiar, comfortable, known. She told him about the case, all the details that Tidwell brought home each night and shared with her. She eased as she talked about the job, but her hands remained restless.

"Does that help? Knowing?" she finished telling him the facts she'd learned.

"You know what I'd like to know?" he ventured leaning forward slightly.

"What?" she was genuinely curious.

"How Dani Reese is?" This smile was genuine and his eyes shone brightly. She smiled in return, but said nothing. "So how are you?" He inquired. "How are you really?"

She stared at him, closed her eyes and exhaled. When she opened her eyes, he was just looking at her, but his gaze was deep, penetrating and unnerving.

"Did you really kill a man with your bare hands?"

"More than one," he said quietly. He watched her as he admitted it. "Does that frighten you?"

She shook her head no, but he sensed something else remained unsaid.

"No?" he wondered. "Honey, it should. I'm here because this," he gestured to his cuffed hands, "this is where I belong."

"You belong with me," she countered without a moment's hesitation.

Her strength was his undoing. He thought that if he scared her, she'd leave. Then she would be safe, away from him and the dangers that followed him like malevolent shadows glued to his soul.

"Dani…" he warned and there it was – his guard slipping. The look on her face was something akin to victory. It was a victory that made her uncomfortable, but one she counted nonetheless. Crews cared. His Zen shield didn't slip in countless hours with IAD, but five minutes with her and he'd revealed himself.

He was caught and he knew it. _No since pretending any longer._ "Remind me never to let you interrogate me," he joked as he sighed and looked skyward for relief. But it wasn't there, the sun; just a high ceiling with a single fixture and peeling white latex paint. Then he placed both of his hands flat on the table and wished he was somewhere else. He known this day would come from the minute they booked him into County. LAPD would make it stick this time. This time, he actually had killed someone. He'd practiced what he'd say to her over and over again and then in one word he'd blown it. He'd used her first name. In the three years, he'd known her he'd never called her anything other than "Reese" but she was "Reese" no more. In his heart she was now, Dani.

He felt her restless hands cover his. "Crews," she demanded. "Look at me."

He did and he knew in that instant that he was powerless. His hands left the table and held hers. "I don't want you here. I mean…I want you here…but it's not safe for you. I'm not safe for you. You need to forget about me." His words said go away, but his fingers wound through hers holding her close. He wasn't strong at all, not like he thought, not when it came to her.

"I'm not leaving you, not in here, not ever…" she vowed. "You are my…" emotion made it hard to finish. _Her what?_ she wondered. "You're mine Crews," she settled on. "Now, stop wallowing in this self-pity crap and help me figure out how to get you out."

He smiled and there were tears in his eyes. She was the toughest person he'd ever known. "Bake me a cake with a file in it?" he joked. She did not find it amusing and her dark glare told him so. He realized he's missed it all - the scowls, frowns, heavy sighs, the scoldings and occasional attempts at reforming him.

She continued undeterred. "Do you have a lawyer?"

"Connie…." He stammered. "I had Connie."

"Constance Griffiths, the Assistant DA?" she scoffed. "Uh, no…not anymore. First thing we do is find you a really good lawyer and get bail set," she was a woman on a mission. "Crews - don't do anything stupid," she warned. "Don't get hurt, don't hurt anyone else, don't color outside the lines…nothing they can use against you."

He nodded because words would not come. A bell rang somewhere in the distance and he knew their time was up. "Thanks for coming," he whispered.

Her look was quizzical, but as the door opened she understood. "Charlie?" she drew his attention back to her with her deliberate use of his given name. "Don't give up. Don't let go."

"You want me to be un-Zen?" he joked softly as he guards stood him up.

"I want you to be as un-Zen as possible," she smiled and bit back her tears. It would not help him to see her upset.

They began ushering him out and back to his cell.

"Oh…and I'm fine. My eyes are finally open. It only took me 28 years, but I woke up."

"Overachiever," he threw back over his shoulder. There was a cheeky tone to his voice, one she'd missed, "took me almost 35." The guard punched him in the kidney for speaking, but he didn't even flinch. She heard the soft grunt as she whispered, "hang in there partner," but he was gone by then.

Her mother was waiting in the car. She could tell the change in Dani before her daughter reached the car, something about her walk and the set of her jaw foretold change. "Is he…well?" she asked.

"He's in a cage, like an animal," she growled.

"Is he an animal Dani?" her mother asked. It was a fair question.

Dani thought about the question and then gave the only true and sensible answer for what she was about to do. "Yes, maybe sometimes… but he's my animal."

"Are you ready for what comes next?" her mother asked.

It was so much like something Crews would say, Dani had to wonder if her mother had suddenly taken up Zen.


	3. Chapter 3

**Dark Paradise** – Chapter 3

The next visit Charlie got wasn't what he wanted. It was from an enforcer style guard. This man was burly and over six foot six; his girth was not from sheer weight, it was muscle. "I'm here to remind you who's in charge here, convict."

"You are, sir." Charlie recited the words he knew well.

"Well, just so you don't forget," the man smiled darkly. Two men bigger than him appeared in the cell door, blocking out the sun.

"Come on out here and let us instruct you." The head guard looked up at the camera, nodded and the red light went out. Charlie's beat down took place off camera, but he remembered every blow – he did not fight back, he just let them come.

* * *

The next day he was summoned to the visitor's area again. Hoping to see Reese he was nearly grinning when the door opened, but for a split lip that hurt when he smiled. A man in a dark suit came in carrying a notepad. Maybe Reese was behind him, maybe this was the lawyer she promised…but no.

The person behind the lawyer was a stylishly dressed and smiling Mickey Rayborne.

"What are you doing here?" Crews growled.

"Now kiddo," Rayborne beamed, "is that any way to treat the man here to get you out?"

"I don't want your help," Crews guttural tone was menacing and maddening. He'd sooner drown than accept help from Rayborne.

"She said you'd be stubborn," Rayborne studiously examined his nails. "She knows you quite well – your partner. Doesn't she Charlie?"

Crews stared and must have nodded because Rayborne continued. "Yes, yes she does. But not as well as you'd like to know her huh kiddo?"

Charlie came up out of his chair and a speaker came on with a disembodied voice. "The prisoner will stay seated," the voice said.

Charlie's voice was both bitter and disappointed, "She went to you?"

"She's smart….my sometimes, one time niece, Ms. Reese, your partner. Smarter than you. She knows that you did me a favor in removing a thorn in my side and now I owe you. And I do, Charlie," Rayborne seemed almost sincere. "So let me get you out of here and then we can discuss your future."

"I have enough money of my own for a lawyer," Crews objected.

"Very well, then you can pay Mr. Fletcher," Rayborne laughed. "But first, we get you out of here and home….to your family."

"I don't have any family," Crews growled, "and you know it,"

"What's stopping you?" Rayborne taunted. "Only you. Sure you can keep chasing ghosts and trying to make me the bad guy, but you have a good woman, who if I'm not mistaken cares a lot more for you than she should. The way I see it….the only one preventing you from having a family is…well, you."

This perplexed Charlie. His head hurt from trying not to show Rayborn what his comments lit fire to. A blaze of images flashed in his head, a tantalizing picture made him think about it. All he ever wanted was Jen and maybe a couple kids. But Dani? He felt so guilty about entertaining the thought of them…together and then someday children.

"It's what you want." Rayborne tempted. "Let me help you get it," he teased. Rayborne was the devil to Charlie's Faust.

The entire time the tall black man in the expensive suit stood very still and made little noise. Mr. Fletcher, it would seem, was an expert at being invisible.

Charlie forced himself to see the man. He turned and directed his attention to the alleged lawyer, "How? How would you do it?"

"They have no direct evidence that you killed Nevikov. Only that you had motive. Half the County had motive and they have a suspicion that once killed another man, the same way."

Charlie said nothing. What happened at Pelican Bay was not something he was proud of and something he never spoke of it, but people knew – both guards and prisoners knew.

Fletcher continued. "They have no evidence you killed that man either. The guard?"

The heat of Crews' glare would have intimated most men, but not Fletcher. "Their case is built on another unknown, unsolved case. The common denominator is you, but no judge is going to accept that as cause to detain you. You're in here now, because you want to be."

"Kiddo," Rayborne teased. "Come 'on."

"If I say yes, I owe you nothing," Charlie gritted out.

"Suit yourself," Rayborne laughed. He stood up and rang the buzzer to summon the guard. "You'll be a free man by tomorrow. Last night to settle your accounts here," Rayborn motioned to Charlie's face. "Or are you as Zen as you profess?"

Crews did not respond.

"I wouldn't let someone punk me and get away with it. I'm just saying…whoever gave you that shiner… well…"

"No," Charlie growled. "You'd send someone to deal with anyone who tried to punk you. You did send someone. You sent me. You set all this up. You got Reese sent down there to the FBI, so Roman could take her, knowing I'd do anything to get her back. You knew Roman would be Roman and that I would…" he stopped short of actual confession.

The guard opened the door.

"Fascinating story," Rayborne laughed. "I'm just gonna go get your other visitor now," Rayborne announced gloating. "The one you really want to see."

The door closed and Charlie was alone with the lawyer. Only the more he looked, the less Fletcher resembled a lawyer. In fact….

"You've done time," Charlie ventured boldly.

"Correct," Fletcher replied.

"Then you can't be a real lawyer," Charlie asserted. "They have to be clean to have a license to practice."

"Do they?" Fletcher was enigmatic. He held Crews' dark stare. "Look I know you think Rayborne owns me. But no one owns me. What I know about you, I know because…"

"You're one of us," Crews finished his sentence.

"I will get you out," Fletcher promised.

"And then?" Charlie questioned directly.

Their moment was interrupted as the door opened again and the scent of a woman caught both men's attention. Crews' gaze flicked to Fletcher and his lips curled in a snarl. Prison was a feral male atmosphere. Prison meant you owned what you defended. Dani Reese was Charlie's to lose and he wasn't about to let anyone else near her. Fletcher averted his eyes and made his apologies. He ducked out behind the guard and the door shut.

"You went to Rayborne?" Charlie spit the words at his partner as an indictment.

"What happened to your face?" she countered angrily.

"Prison - prison happened," he brushed her concern aside. "You went to Rayborne?" he repeated no less caustically, but in a quieter tone.

"Don't you fucking start with me Crews," she barked. "He has money."

"I have money," he edged toward a raised voice.

"You weren't using your money, Ted's gone and I can't get to it," she argued.

"As soon as I get out of here, we're gonna fix that," he corrected strongly.

"Uh…how?" she caustically replied.

He did not answer so she followed her train of thought. "Only way I could get at your money is if you left it to me when you were dead…"

"That's not the only way," he demurred and looked away.

Her head worked the problem and then it dawned on her what he was proposing. "You mean if we were married…" she guessed.

He was now very embarrassed to have led her there in anger. He nodded curtly – just once. No since lying, about what she already knew.

"You're gonna have to work on your delivery," she joked. "You couldn't get a call girl to marry you with that line. That's gotta be the worst proposal I've ever even heard about."

When he looked back she was grinning, his heart hammered madly. "I'm sure a lot of kissing ass, flowers and candy are in my future," his humor returned with the presence of his partner. He could not hold onto his anger with her in the same room.

"Flowers, candy…" she scoffed. "Geez, what the hell am I gonna do with those?"

_If he ever got out of prison, he was going to devote his life to making this incredible woman his _he thought. Then just as suddenly, she changed as if she'd realized they were almost flirting and became embarrassed and angry simultaneously.

"Don't think you don't have a lot of shit to answer for Crews," she warned seriously.

"I…what?" he was somewhat dumbfounded by her attitude one eighty.

"And another thing," she tore into him, "if I ever….last time I was here…did I hear you? Did you refer to me as '_honey_'? Let's get something straight right now. I am not your girlfriend, and I'm not one of those pathetic groupies or a badge bunny. I am your fucking partner Crews. You got that?" she was nearly shouting at him like the old days when she finished her tirade.

He couldn't resist. He'd been locked up with smart-ass men for nearly a week and his tongue was razor sharp and well oiled. He regretted the words the instant he said them, but they were arrows loosed. "Well, if we're 'fucking' partners Reese…when exactly do we get to the fucking part?"

For the very first time since he'd met her, Dani Reese actually blushed. Then she got impossibly angry with him, her voice was low and dangerous. "If you weren't in handcuffs right now, I'd slap the shit out of you. I ought to just leave you in here with the rest of these jerks."

He was immediately repentant. "I'm sorry. You're right on both counts. You should leave me and that was really mean spirited. I shouldn't have said it."

She shifted on the balls of her feet. She was still quite angry with him.

"A lot of very caustic, vulgar things get said in here," he rationalized. "But normally, not by me and never to you. It was disrespectful and I'm…I apologize….Dan…Reese." Again he'd caught himself referring to her as a woman, a person, not a partner and policeman. Somewhere along the way his perception of her had shifted and it delved into dangerous territory.

"I swear to god, Crews…" she threatened. "You make it hard to be your friend."

He grinned like an idiot and his voice returned to a coy flirtatious tone. "Are we friends Reese?"

The seriousness and changing nature of their relationship put her off balance. And Dani did not deal well with personal discussions. Her most common coping mechanism was to stick her head in the sand, ignoring the facts staring her in the face.

She didn't answer his question directly, but left no question as to her loyalty and commitment to him. "I'll be back to pick you up when Fletcher gets you sprung. Isn't that what friends do?" Then she turned on her heel and left him wondering just where he stood with his terror in two inch heels.


	4. Chapter 4

**Dark Paradise** – Chapter 4

Charlie's last night in County was very much like his last night at Pelican Bay.

His clothes were the same. His bunk and sheets the same, even the chainsaw snoring of his cellmate were eerily similar to his last night in the Super Max, up the coast in Crescent City. The sounds were the same; an oppressive silence punctuated by an occasional grunt, sob or wail. Somewhere far off the sound of someone singing made it all the more strange. All the smells were the same; the antiseptic odor overlying the smells of humanity: sweat, blood and body odor – never quite covering it, but trying. The darkness was the same; not real, not complete, but trying all the same. The only thing that was not the same were the emotions he felt. Before it had been fear; that he wouldn't really get out, that he couldn't adjust to being free; that no one was waiting for him; that he'd lost everyone and everything that mattered. Now instead of that fear he felt – hope.

He sat in the dark and let his eyes slipped closed. He hearkened back to Dani's visits recalling the smell of her entering that room, the feel of her fingers slipping between his, small and lithe and light and free. He was trying to pinpoint the exact fragrance that defined Dani. She was a blend of coffee and chocolate and cherries and something earthy, possibly her own sweat, but it was an indescribable pleasure for him to experience and impossible for his mind to recreate – no matter how hard he tried. He was jarred out of his reverie by the musky smell of a man's sweat and a shadow over the weak light entering his cell. The guard had returned.

"So…I hear you're getting out tomorrow convict? Funny thing about tomorrow is….it never really gets here does it Zen Master?" The guard's laughter was voice was strange, but somehow familiar. "You see I was at Pelican Bay when you hurt that guard. I know what you did."

"Then you know not to come alone," Charlie menaced from the darkness.

"Oh," the guard laughed. "I'm not alone. I brought friends." Rayborne told the guards they could rough Charlie up, even hurt him a bit, but not to injure him severely. "Open on 12," the guard called up to the man running the locks.

"Inmate," he demanded of Charlie, "exit the cell."

Crews knew this would be worse than the initial beat down. He knew he'd probably spend some time in the infirmary, but he'd promised Reese he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize their plan to get him out. He took a depth breath, pushed off his bunk and walked out into the darkened alley outside his cell. His bunkmate rolled toward the wall and feigned sleep – no one wanted to witness what came next.

* * *

While she avoided physical injury, Dani Reese's evening was no cakewalk either.

She was determined to stop lying to herself and to Tidwell about the nature of their relationship. That task began at 6PM when he came to collect her from her mother's home, ostensibly to go back to his place with him. Dani met Tidwell at the front door to let him in and dodged his attempt at a kiss, by awkwardly turning her face. His lips brushed her cheek and she pulled back.

"Hey, babe," he felt her unease immediately. "What's wrong?"

Her mother knew what was coming and disappeared into the kitchen. He seemed like a nice man and he was kind, almost gentle with Dani, but he was not the one who captured her daughter's heart. In truth, she knew the man who her daughter could love and respect would have to be hard and tough. He'd have to be as tough as Jack Reese had been on his daughter, but he'd also have to love her deeply. Charlie Crews seemed to foot this bill, whereas "Kevin" as the brown haired man insisted she call him was simply too nice for Dani.

Dani turned her back and walked into the Reese family living room. It was a cop's family so the mantle was adorned with photos of both Jack and Dani in LAPD blue service uniforms. A flag folded tightly in a triangle in a glass case rested over Jack's commendations for bravery. Even gone the man inhabited a portion of the house.

"I…uh…we need to talk," she stammered nervously.

Tidwell knew he was in trouble. Dani Reese didn't talk – ever. "Okay… what'd I do?"

"Nothing," she said quickly. "You…you're fine. It's just…"

"Come on, babe," he whined. "You're not gonna give me the 'it's not you, it's me' speech are you?" He wanted to ask her if she'd seen the shrink, but he knew better.

"I went to see Crews," she blurted out. _Hell of a conversation starter Dani_, she thought.

"You did what?" Tidwell asked incredulously. "I'm sorry…you did what?"

"He's my partner," she explained, "and I just…"

"He killed a man with his bare hands," Tidwell interrupted. "Even if IAD can't prove it, everyone knows it. You know that Dani? Don't you? Roman would never have just let him go and Roman's men wouldn't not turn on him. Only way Crews gets out of that SUV is to kill Nevikov, just like that guard in prison."

"He saved me," she argued.

Tidwell took a deep breath. Attempting to drive a wedge between Dani and Crews was not a wise tactic. He regrouped. "Look, babe," he lowered his voice and stepped close to take hold of her hands, which appeared to be shaking, "I just don't think after all you've been through that seeing Charlie Crews in jail is healthy for you, good for you right now."

"He shouldn't be in jail," she quieted, stilled and let him hold her hands. "He saved me," she repeated softly looking down.

"He's got plenty of money to hire a lawyer and from what I hear they don't have jack on him anyway," Tidwell rationalized. Crews wasn't her responsibility. He was a big boy and should be fully capable of looking out for himself.

"I'm going to get him out," she raised her head and looked him in the eye.

"What… no," he struggled with his emotions. "Dani, he's not your responsibility. You need to focus on you. Crews can take care of himself."

"No," she wrested her hands away from him and stepped back. "All this happened when I left him. This is my fault and I have to fix it."

"Okay, okay," he relented. "Tidwell gets it. He's your partner and you have loyalty to him. Dani that's admirable, but even if he beats this," he quickly retreated in the face of her dark glare, "which he in all likelihood he will." "He's never gonna wear a badge again. You know this. Babe? Tell me you know this."

"I think….I guess….okay, yes," she accepted a hard truth from him that she'd been deluding herself about. LAPD now had enough misconduct to keep Charlie Crews suspended indefinitely.

"He's not your partner anymore," Tidwell said softly. She looked up at him and pain filled her eyes, but he finished anyway. Like ripping the Band-Aid off a wound, it hurt less if you did it fast, "and he's never gonna be your partner again."

She stared at him as the reality of what he'd said permeated. Crews had given up so much for her. He'd traded his life for hers, but even beyond the miracle of survival, he'd lost his chance to be a cop – something he'd told her sustained him in prison all those long years. Now his bitterness and caustic comments made sense. Crews knew what she'd just absorbed. That part of his life was over. He'd never be a Detective again.

"Babe?" Tidwell stepped close. "It's been a long day. Let's just go home."

She turned and looked at him and her eyes were cold and dark. "I'm gonna stay here tonight," she said and the finality with which she said it made him think that perhaps their relationship died right there on the living room floor instead of in that orange grove a week earlier.

She walked him to his car, let him kiss her properly and then delivered the words he knew were coming, but dreaded all the same. "I'm going home tomorrow, to my home. I need to stand on my own and I think we need a break."

"I'm not the bad guy here Dani," he said with resignation in his voice.

"No, you're not," she reminded herself. "You're a really good guy." All Tidwell had ever done was try to love her.

"Just not your guy?" He knew. "It's him... isn't it?"

"Him who?" she played dumb. "Crews?" She laughed him off. "Crews has never shown any interest in me in that way. He's never asked me out, tried to cop a feel, even tried to kiss me."

"That makes it worse," Tidwell complained. "Because you love him anyway."

She didn't deny or confirm his comment. That alone was telling, normally she would argue the point if someone observed something so personal about her. Maybe there was more truth to his observation than she was willing to admit. Instead she redirected his attention, "Look, I never set out to hurt you," she explained. "And Crews…he's just…"

"I know, I've seen you two together. He's like the other half that makes you a whole person. I can't do that for you. I've tried, but we don't connect on that level and I can't love you enough for both of us."


	5. Chapter 5

**Dark Paradise** – Chapter 5

Charlie's release was set back a day, due to his mysterious injuries, which included several broken ribs and a cracked wrist incurred while trying to block a blow from the PR24 nightstick that the guards used on him. Injuries no one would explain and everyone wondered about. Crews was once again attracting unwelcome attention, despite following Dani's edict to a fault. He sat alone in the infirmary thinking about the motive for the second beating. No words were spoken, no demands or threats made, but there was something behind it he just couldn't figure out what.

_Smart move_ he thought _using the nightsticks. _The PR24 was built the in the shape of a "t" to permit the user to swivel and swing the baton freely, while also protecting the wielders entire forearm when necessary. But Crews didn't fight back. He'd promised Dani he'd cause no trouble. And while he steadfastly refused to identify his assailants when the serious men from County visited him in the infirmary, he was no chattier with his own attorney._ Too many ears inside_, both men knew. Fletcher alone was allowed to see him; neither Reese nor Rayborne were permitted to visit.

They said direct family only. He told them that he had none.

Charlie's father had vanished from his life (again) as soon as Crews was arrested.

Reese came to know this little nugget of information (via Rayborne) and it served to make her insanely angry.

"Why does that not surprise me?" She was not asking Rayborne. She was talking to herself, much like her partner did – another thing that simply served to incense the mercurial brunette. _"You get more like him everyday,"_ Tidwell noted once. She was beginning to see what he meant.

"Dani?" Rayborne inquired. "I've known you since you were a little girl. And out of respect for all the years I've known your father I have to ask…are you sure about him? Crews? Is he the one?"

Reese cocked her head and examined Mickey Rayborne. She completely dodged the question, like a bullfighter in a ring, she waived a red flag and ducked. No one was going to interrogate her; not Rayborne, not Fletcher and not even Charlie Crews would get that privilege. "Crews doesn't trust you," she leveled a hard accusation. "He says you used him to eliminate Roman."

"Aren't you using me right now?" Rayborne countered. He was as effective as Crews at dodging direct questions. It irked her. She considered his comment with her tongue tucked in her cheek saving her wise cracks for Crews she mulled his premise.

"I owe him," she replied. It was all she would give.

Fletcher appeared in the doorway.

"They say they'll release him tomorrow. They are holding him for observation, in medical, for the next twenty four hours. He'll be safe there. "

"Medical is the best place to be," Dani repeated something Crews once told Holt Easley, under her breath.

"That's right," Fletcher noted pointedly looking at her. _How did she know that?_ he wondered.

"How badly did they hurt him?" Dani asked the concern in her voice apparent.

"He says he's been hurt worse," Fletcher relayed.

"Sounds like him," Dani observed.

"He's refusing pain meds."

"Stubborn bastard," she cursed her partner under her breath.

"He's tough," Fletcher smiled "and by tomorrow he'll be a free man. Then you can take him home and baby him."

Dani laughed, "fat chance."

"He said you'd say that," Fletcher laughed softly.

"Did he say who beat him up?" Rayborne asked.

"Nope," Fletcher said and there was a degree of pride in that fact. "Won't tell them, won't tell me, says he 'fell' when everyone knows better. From the marks on his ribcage, I'm guessing they beat him with nightsticks or broom handles."

"Guards," Dani ventured and her dark eyes glittered.

Fletcher rewarded her observation with confirmation, "that would be my guess." His estimation of the diminutive brunette was rising with each day. Crews had chosen his partner well he thought. What he didn't know was neither of them chose - their partnering was by design, but not theirs. Rayborne smiled as he watched his plan evolve. Each day another step closer to what he'd always wanted - Crews.


	6. Chapter 6

**Dark Paradise** – Chapter 6

The night Crews was supposed to get out, but he didn't – Dani Reese could not sleep.

She wasn't sure if it was crushed anticipation of being reunited with her partner, who deserved to be freed, but wasn't or something else. She did not call Tidwell, nor answer any of his many messages on her newly minted cell phone. She also chose not to stay with her mother nor answer any of her mother's pointed questions about her relationships – with Crews, with Tidwell or with LAPD.

Dani Reese for the first time in her life was alone, without a job and yet, did not feel compelled to do something stupid. Crews needed her. He needed her to inspire hope that something good could come of all this.

She just didn't want to delude him (or more dangerously herself) into thinking there was something romantic there; when quite possibly there was not. She knew Crews loved her and she was pretty sure she cared deeply for him. More deeply than she'd bothered to care for anyone in several years, but she'd never viewed him as a potential lover. After all, he was…Crews… But Tidwell's observations and her mother's both made her reexamine what there was about Crews that drew her to him, that made her care, that inspired her loyalty. God knew the man could drive her to distraction at times. And yet…

She thought about her partner. He wasn't unattractive. He was handsome enough, with his pale eyes, fair skin, brassy hair and freckles; yet he was so unlike anyone she'd ever dated that it seemed strange to consider him handsome. He wasn't her type, but then neither was Tidwell. In some ways both men were similar, boyish, slightly goofy, but with a good heart and well intentioned. Both had personal idiosyncrasies that she tolerated; Tidwell constantly talked about himself in the third person and Crews constantly talked to himself. Both were bold and brave in ways she wasn't. Both cared deeply for her.

So she sat in her apartment and thought. She thought about why she started dating Tidwell and why she'd stopped. She wondered if it had anything to do with Crews; the stopping. _Had she stopped?_ _They were just taking a break, but it felt more like breaking up. And all the time she'd been gone, at the FBI, with Roman and since then; she thought more about Crews than she had Tidwell. That meant something. _She thought about what her relationship with Crews would be starting tomorrow with them both suspended and him possibly for good. But most remarkably, she didn't think about drinking, going to a bar or finding some other way to self-destruct and she noticed that fact.

Far from her kidnapping by Roman wrecking her, it had redefined her reality in a way that made things clearer and more succinct for her. She knew who the good guys were now and the bad ones. She knew Rayborne was dirty and he was right; she was using him, just as he'd used Crews. She was pragmatic and her eyes were open, but there was so much she still didn't know. She did know that using Rayborne; that was how things got done. She also knew that Crews for all his protests was at heart both a decent and honorable man. It was perhaps why Crews had prompted Tidwell to pursue her. Tidwell didn't need a lot of encouraging, but she knew now that Crews had assisted him in allaying her fears and in trusting someone for the first time in many years. Now that very same man was the rub between her and Tidwell – maybe he always had been.

It was 3:14 AM. Angry red numbers glowed from her alarm clock informing her.

Snatches of some nonsense Crews spouted in the car came flooding back to her, his voice inside her head. "_A man stays awake all night worrying about his troubles. In the morning, he is exhausted and his troubles are just as they were._" She could hear him saying it. She remembered him sitting there smiling innocently at her while the long orange rays of sunlight silhouetted him. She growled. Then, just as now, Crews vexed her.

* * *

8AM came sooner than she expected after drifting off to a fitful sleep around 5AM. She stared at the buzzing clock wanting to shoot it, but rose, showered, dressed and drove to the prison to meet Crews and Fletcher. Blessedly Rayborne did not come.

"Where's your boss?" she inquired of Fletcher.

"Rayborne doesn't do mornings," the lawyer replied.

"Hmpfh," she grunted.

"Apparently neither do you," Fletcher teased lightly.

Dani didn't respond and he couldn't see her dark glare from behind the pair of tear shaped sunglasses covering her eyes. The glasses Crews bought her last Christmas shielded her from everyone but him. Charlie seemed to always see right past them.

Right on cue, the gate and doors creaked open and they walked a stiff and sore Charlie Crews out to freedom. The lips of the guards moved as they taunted Crews under their breath. Dani wanted to kill them, every muscle in her body tensed and her fists clenched in rage. Then Crews looked up at her and smiled. She reflexively smiled back and felt a rising tightness in her chest.

Just as in the orange grove, she walked nearer to him and stopped short of actual contact. He stopped too and looked down at her. She tentatively reached a shaky hand out and put it on his chest over his heart, as if to assure herself that he was real. He stood very still and let her absorb his calm, borrow his strength and warmth. No words were necessary.

"Ready?" she dropped her hand and looked up.

"Ready," he assured.

"I'm going to file a suit about this beating," Fletcher told Crews.

"No," Crews said softly. "It's okay."

"No, it's not," Reese objected, wheeling to address the lawyer directly. "You file Fletcher. LAPD and LA County will be lucky if Crews doesn't own them both before this is over."

Crews stepped close and he could feel the heat coming off her in waves. Standing behind her, he leaned down and spoke words into her ear, intended only for her. Again far too familiar, but meant to be comforting nonetheless, "Breathe honey. It's over."

She didn't have the heart to be angry with him. Instead she reached back blindly for his hand and began to deliver the news she'd kept hidden. "No, it's just beginning."

Fletcher left and Crews walked with her to her tiny navy coupe. "What do you mean 'its just beginning'?" he asked as he lowered himself into the car and tried to get comfortable.

"Uh…there's some things I haven't told you," she confessed. "First let's get out of here."

"Okay…" he drew the word out like a question.

"Where do you want to go?" she asked nervously.

"Home, my house. I'd like to shower – alone – for about two days," he exhaled leaning his head back against the headrest.

She didn't laugh at his joke and that made him roll his head to look at her.

"Um, about that…" she began. "You can't go home. The LAPD has seized your house and is searching it as we speak. They think you and Nevikov were like rival criminals or something and that's why you killed him."

"Searching my house? Again?" he sighed. "And you wonder why I have no furniture," he joked darkly.

"So…" she started the car and began driving.

"Let's go to the Plaza," he smiled. "I'll rent a big suite and we can lay by the pool. Well, you can…" he again joked.

"About that…" she explained. The news kept getting worse. "The FBI froze your bank accounts because…"

"I'm a rival crime lord," he finished. She nodded mutely. "So you're telling me that I have no home to go to, no money to get a place to stay and I buried my car in Bodner's garage so…I guess I'm on the street."

"You can stay at my place," she offered.

Crews' eyebrows shot north in surprise and then a smile reached his eyes, the first all day. "At your place? With you?"

"I can stay at my mother's," she clarified.

"Not at Tidwell's?" he questioned pointedly.

"Uh, no," she replied, but gave him nothing more.

"I don't want to put you out," he reacted as disappointment dawned. _She wasn't asking him to stay with her, she was offering him a place that was safe._ The moment stretched and he scrambled to recover. It was a lot to take in. He'd gone from having more money than he knew what to do with to being homeless and carless.

"Bodner's working on getting your assets unfrozen, but…" she explained quickly.

"That takes time," he finished. They weren't that out of practice.

"Yeah," she admitted. Then they both fell silent.

"We got a lot of time, Reese," he reflected.

"So…." She began.

"No more bad news," he interrupted. "Not for now…"

She smiled apologetically and nodded.

"Could you buy a broke homeless guy breakfast?" he asked with more cheer than he felt. Prison was almost easier.

"Yeah," she eased. The hard part was over. She drove in the direction of a diner they'd frequented. It did good breakfasts all day long, had great coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice Crews liked. "For what it's worth…I'm glad you're back."

"Me too, Reese," he replied looking far away out the window. "Me too."


	7. Chapter 7

**Dark Paradise** – Chapter 7

"Where is he?" Dani's mother looked around her and then cast a glance out to her car parked at the curb for Crews.

"He's at my place," she announced pushing past her mother into her childhood home, "sleeping."

"You did not bring him here?" Her mother sounded disappointed.

"Of course, I did not bring him here," Dani answered parroting her mother's words and tone. She was clearly annoyed.

"You do not trust yourself with this man," her mother announced.

"Jeez, mom," Dani whined. "I'm not a cat in heat." Her mother's stern look made her soften her objection. "I don't know, maybe. It's complicated."

"It is not complicated," her mother chastised. "Either you return this man's love or you do not."

Dani growled and threw her bag on the couch. "Can we not fight? Please…"

"Very well," her mother relented. "I am doing laundry. You may help."

"Oh joy," Dani complained sarcastically.

"You may assist me with laundry or go to your own home," her mother replied just as acerbically, "and clean up your own problems."

Dani glared but said nothing. Years of living with Jack Reese had toughened both women. At this point, nothing further would be gained by talk. They would lick their wounds and mull their thoughts separately. Talking would occur hours later when tempers cooled.

* * *

Banging on the door woke Charlie from a dead sleep.

He had not realized it, but he hadn't really slept in weeks. First Reese was taken and his mind was consumed with finding her. He paced the empty rooms in his house seeking a means to find her, until Roman sent him that taped message. Then he worked furiously to put enough pieces of the puzzle together to retrieve her safely – even if that meant he was at risk. He breathed a sigh of relief knowing she was safe and then by some miracle outlived the Russian and gained his freedom. The pace of thing on that day was breathtaking. Then she was back, but he was just as quickly arrested, arraigned and jailed. And prison was a place Crews never really slept. After months, your body just adjusted to the lack of sleep, but in just the few weeks it had been he was exhausted.

After he was released, they ate hearty breakfast together falling into easy conversation and after drove in companionable silence to her apartment. He didn't push her for more. He didn't question what she'd said. He was happy in her presence and too tired to contemplate what came next.

At her place, he'd showered while she packed an overnight bag for her mother's. When he emerged from a steamy bathroom, pink and wrinkled, informing her that she was out of hot water, she'd simply smiled and showed him bedroom before locking the front door and driving off. He laid back in sheets and pillows that smelled of her. He closed his eyes, reminded himself he was safe, breathed deeply and was asleep in minutes.

Bleary eyed and dressed only in boxers he staggered to the door, unlocked the deadbolt and yanked the door open. It was dusk and there on the doorstep was a disheveled Captain Tidwell. The two men just stared at each other. They hadn't spoken since Tidwell told Crews to "go get her." Crews had done just that and now Tidwell assumed that went far further than it had in reality.

Tidwell opened and closed his mouth several times before words actually came out.

"She brought you home?" he asked the patently obvious out of shock.

"Apparently," Crews was not amused at being woken.

When Reese left, she didn't go to her sometimes boyfriend's house, she'd gone to her mother's. Why was unclear to him, but he saw no need to explain the situation to Tidwell. He also didn't mention that Reese wasn't there. Part of the reason he didn't was unclear to him and preoccupied him to the point he didn't engage Tidwell in protracted conversation.

"Are you sleeping here?" Tidwell asked another question that Crews' dress and appearance should have told him.

Crews simply eyed Tidwell with a raised brow indicating his level of annoyance.

"Where are you sleeping exactly?" Tidwell hissed in a hoarse whisper.

Charlie could play at this game. "In the bed." Again he pointedly failed to clear up the Captain's misperception.

Tidwell ran his hands through his mop of brown hair muttering "of course you are" under his breath before stomping off into the dark.

Crews closed and locked Reese's front door, walked to the kitchen, found a glass and filled it. He leaned back against the counter, drank the cool clear water from the tap and considered the hornet's nest he'd just kicked.

* * *

Dinner was over and they were having tea at the kitchen table when Dani's mother resumed her interrogation. "How long will you be staying?" she inquired innocently.

Dani eyed her suspiciously. There was nothing innocent in her mother's question.

"Why? Got a hot date?"

"If you will not staying with your boyfriend and you will not stay at your home, then I am wondering if you will be living here long and if I should buy more groceries," her mother commented levelly.

Dani rubbed her face. "It's not that I don't want to be there. It's just that I don't trust myself not to do something stupid. Something that will confuse us both, okay?" she spit out her fears.

"What is there to fear from love child?" Her mother asked softly.

"I'm just not ready to jump from one relationship to another," Dani explained. "Even if this one feels like the right one. I'm afraid of screwing things up with Crews. He's too important to screw things up with."

"Caution from you? You must care for him deeply," her mother commented. "You are usually so reckless with your love."

"I know," Dani assured her mother. "This is different. He's…."

"Special?"

"Irreplaceable," Dani settled on a word. "There's no one else like him."

"Your heart is lost Dani," her mother pronounced. "Only you prevent yourself from being happy with this man because you fear you will lose him. But what if waiting is what causes you to lose him? You must not fear Dani. Fear solves nothing."

"What are you Yoda now?" Even her mother got that pop culture reference.

"I am going to bed," her mother pronounced. "Will you do these dishes?"

Dani nodded. She looked at the clock it was approaching 8:30PM. Crews would probably sleep through the night, but she yearned to check on him. She pulled her cell phone out and walked to the carport. She dialed her home number and after four rings her own voice on her answering machine answered curtly. She waited for the beep and then asked levelly, "Crews?" Nothing happened and she asked for him louder her tone more demanding, "Crews?"

There was a click and his familiar voice came to her down the phone line, "I'm here."

"Did I wake you?" she made conversation.

"I was up," he commented carefully. He didn't know where they were going. It made him cautious.

"You doing okay?" she asked awkwardly.

"Yeah," he sighed. "I'm doing fine Reese."

She was out of things to say and the silence stretched.

"I'd be better if you were here," he suggested.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," he assured her. His voice was silky smooth and relaxed. She imagined sitting there on her couch in the flickering lights of the TV set in her darkened living room not watching TV with Crews. It would be on, but they would be otherwise engaged.

"Tomorrow," she chickened out. "I'll come for you around 9 and we'll figure out where we go from here. Okay?"

"Yeah," he said and the disappointment was again apparent in his voice. Her mother's warning rang in her ears. "Good night Reese," he resigned himself to the fact she didn't want what he wanted.

"Charlie?" she almost yelped keeping him from hanging up.

"Uh-huh," he confirmed he was still there.

"I don't want to…" she began to explain. Words failed her. She didn't want to fail, not with him. She didn't "not" want to be with him, she just didn't know how. She also didn't know how to begin to explain what she felt.

"You don't have to," he vowed presciently.

"I'm scared that we'll…" she started again.

"We won't," he promised.

"How do you know?" she asked boldly. "How can you know?"

"Because you're more important to me than anything else," he revealed what she had to already know.

"Go back to sleep. I'll be there in the morning when you wake up," she promised.

"And now you expect me to sleep?" he teased.

"Goodnight Crews," she smiled into the phone and he could hear that smile in her voice.

"Goodnight Reese," he replied also smiling. It was the first time in the three years they'd been partnered that they'd said a proper goodbye on the phone.


	8. Chapter 8

**Dark Paradise** – Chapter 8

Her phone buzzed insistently on the nightstand. She picked it and looked at it. Tidwell was calling her a 2:45 in the morning. She wondered if something was wrong as she pressed the green button and spoke into the phone asking precisely that, "What's wrong?"

"Couldya not even wait a day?" he slurred into the phone.

"What are you talking about?" she was instantly angry. "Are you drunk?"

"Drinking…not drunk," he used her distinction. "Answer my question," he demanded.

"I have no idea was you're talking about," she sat up and swung her legs off the bed.

"Him," he snapped.

"Him who?" she was still fuzzy from sleep. This had to be about Crews. She couldn't imagine Crews getting into trouble this quickly, but was exceptionally talented in that regard.

"Don't you 'him who' me, Dani," his voice kept getting angrier, "you know damned well who – Crews!"

"Crews is in bed asleep," she explained.

"In your home, in your bed," he spat.

"Yes," she got it now, "but – I - am at my mother's."

"I know you and him are…what?" he started on a tirade, but got really quiet as her words permeated.

"I said I'm at my mother's," she was awake now and there was no going back to sleep after this conversation.

"Oh," was all he could summon. Then he hiccupped.

"Where are you? I hear cars," she observed.

"Outside some bar in West Hollywood," he meekly answered.

"Give me a street name, an intersection or a club name," she demanded.

"Why?"

"So I can come get you. You can't drive like that," she started dressing. She could hear his indecision. "Go on, do it."

She could hear him walking and then he told her where he was.

"I know the place. Stay put, I'll be there in twenty minutes," she snapped the phone shut, dressed quickly, left quietly and drove fast.

"Sonofabitch," Tidwell cursed at the empty air. "I'm gonna fucking kill Crews," he swore. He didn't mean literally, but Crews had fooled him. Now he'd made a fool of himself with Dani and she did not suffer fools.

"Sonofabitch," he repeated. She was coming; she of the dark eyes and dangerous looks, and she'd be pissed.

"Fuck," he shouted at the sky. A homeless man looked up from the alley at him with pity in his eyes. _How had it come to this?_ He'd gone from a pretty "with it and together" guy to someone a homeless dude pitied. He was well and truly fucked.

* * *

Reese pulled to the curb, rolled down the window and ordered, "get in."

"But my car…" he began all the while complying with her edict.

"Will be there tomorrow," she finished in a tone that brooked no argument.

"Uh, Dani…" he started what he was sure would be a long and profound apology.

"Stop," she directed. "I'm not having this conversation while you're drunk. Sit still, be quiet and I'll take you home. The only words I wanna hear out of your mouth right now are "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry," he apologized petulantly and reluctantly. If he could only just explain, the fault lay with Crews. "I thought…"

"Stop talking," she commanded.

"He's at your place," he completely ignored her, "sleeping in your bed. What was I supposed to think?"

She slammed on the brakes. "So let me get this right. You think a day after I say we need to take a break, I jump into bed with my partner."

"He answered your door in nothing but boxer shorts," Tidwell defended.

"So naturally, I'm sleeping with him? I'm not sure who you think less of me or my partner," she continued the conversation that she swore they were not going to have.

"He's not your partner," he muttered under his breath. That moment was his biggest mistake.

"Okay, shut up right now," she snapped. "Just don't say another word or I swear to god I am going to put you out of the car right here."

Tidwell swallowed hard and bit his tongue. She meant it. She'd do it. She'd gladly soak him in blood and drop him in shark-infested waters at this very moment. Luckily, they were five minutes from his place. He kept quiet.

As she pulled to the curb, he thought about apologizing, but the look in her eyes told him that if he opened his mouth to breath it would be a mistake.

"Get out," she said and her tone was dark and serious, "and don't call me again tonight. In fact, don't call me again at all. If I want to talk to you, I know your number," she told him and she sped off closing the door with the speed of her acceleration.

* * *

She was too angry to go back to sleep, so she didn't go back to her mother's. Instead she found herself in front of her own apartment. It was 5:30AM. She played with keys in her hand. They felt like fire. "Fuck it," she said and climbed from her car.

The house was pitch black and she only turned on a table lamp before dropping her keys on the kitchen counter next Crews half empty glass of water. Without thinking, she picked up the glass and finished it. Then she crept quietly into her room to find the tall red head fast asleep in her bed. She could make coffee and camp out on the couch or….

She leaned over and laid a hand on his bare shoulder. Under her hand, she could feel a long thin scar. She only had a moment to consider it, before she was flat on her back pinned to the floor by Crews.

He was sleeping soundly, so soundly that she surprised him. Surprise was something he did not take well and his reaction was sudden and immediate violence. He rolled off the bed and pinned her to the floor, knocking the breath from her. She struggled with him vainly until reality dawned on Crews.

"Reese?" he questioned hoarsely. She was so small that he could easily control her with one hand. With the other he reached for the table lamp on the bedside stand. The light snapped on and a furious Dani Reese writhed beneath him. "Are you okay?" he questioned.

Her breath had returned in the interim. "Of course I'm not okay, you're sitting on me," she groused.

"What are you doing here?" he wondered.

"I live here," she growled.

"Hold still," he commanded. He relaxed the vice like grip he had on her, but the fact remained he was straddling her in a very interesting position and now that he was no longer in fear for his life, certain portions of his anatomy were responding. The smell of her, the feel of her, he couldn't help what she did to him. "Hold still," he hissed.

Suddenly Reese was aware of their proximity and their body position and she froze.

"I'm…I'm gonna get up now. Promise me you're not gonna hit me," he began to extricate himself from their compromising position.

"Oh, I'm not gonna hit you. But when I can reach my nightstand drawer and my pistol I am going to shoot you," she threatened.

He stopped and looked at her to gauge her seriousness. She wasn't going to shoot him but she was still lit from within with anger. She was also beautiful. Her skin and face were flushed, her hair loose and wild and for a moment his breath caught in his throat. His fingers strayed to brush a stray lock of hair from her face.

"You didn't tell Tidwell I wasn't here did you?" she pointedly asked him.

"I did not," he confessed transfixed by her dark eyes.

"Why?" she pressed.

"You know why," he leaned closer. His shadow covered her. They were inches away from never going back.

"Get off me," she demanded.

Instantly he did as he was told.

"Go back to sleep," she ordered, but there was no anger there, not in her voice or her affect. He helped her to her feet.

"Reese? I'm sorry about the whole wrestling match on the floor. You surprised me and I react badly to being surprised," he explained as he sat back down on the bed.

Two hours earlier, Tidwell couldn't manage those two simple words and mean them, but Crews did. Suddenly, immediately and very convincingly he apologized for something she wasn't even sure he was sorry about. She forgave him the instant the words left his lips. "You're sorry?" she questioned recovering her balance.

He nodded solemnly.

"You're sorry about the whole wrestling match?" she teased dangerously.

"Mostly," he smiled slightly noting her tone. "Maybe not that last little bit," his smile broadened.

"Go back to sleep," she reminded him.

"Where will you sleep?" he asked coyly.

"I'm gonna grab a cat nap on the couch," she said snagging pillow and holding it against her chest.

"Uh-uh," he pulled the pillow from her grasp. "Your house, your bed. I'll take the couch."

"Crews," she argued. "It's four feet long, you're six feet tall. How's that gonna work?"

"We could both sleep here," he offered.

Her look told him her skepticism.

"I promise to keep my hands to myself. Scout's honor," he vowed holding up two fingers.

She looked hard at him, weighing and measuring, gauging both his intent and her trust. Her decision came as a relief for them both as she sighed heavily and lay down beside him.

He reached over and switched off the lamp. There was no talk as they settled in and their breathing fell into a relaxed matched rhythm.

"Crews?" she questioned from the dark. "You never really were a Boy Scout were you?"

"No, Reese I never was," he confessed. He could have sworn he heard her laugh.


	9. Chapter 9

**Dark Paradise** – Chapter 9

They lay together in the early hours of that morning, neither sleeping, but content to be in the presence of the other. Dani felt relaxed for the first time in weeks and Charlie's eyes fluttered closed as the first rays of the morning sun began to light the far wall of the room.

"I'm falling asleep," he muttered.

"Isn't that the point?" Dani mumbled.

"No," he said beginning to rise.

"Crews," she ordered in that voice he knew so well. "Lie down."

"I could fall asleep and hurt you - again," he worried.

"You didn't hurt me," she excused his earlier reaction. "Lie down."

He did but he focused on not sleeping. He fidgeted and shifted.

"Would it help if I left?" she wondered.

"What would help…Could I? No, never mind," he stopped himself from asking what he wanted.

"What?" She sighed in exasperation. "I've had a long night and I just want a couple hours of sleep. Tell me what you need to go back to sleep."

"If I fall asleep, I'm so tired I might forget you're here and react badly again," he forced himself to admit. "I don't want to hurt you, I don't want to scare you," he rolled onto his back and blew a deep breath at the ceiling. "Can I? Could I? Would you let me hold your hand?"

"Uh…okay," she cautiously gave him her hand, "but I don't see what good this…" He grasped her offered hand lightly; pulling it to his chest he gently placed the back of her hand in the center of his chest over his heart and covered it with his. The tenderness and care of his gesture silenced her objection and removed her doubt.

"Now I won't forget you're here," he vowed happily. "We're connected."

She felt him ease. With great effort he controlled his breathing and his racing heart; she on the other hand was quickly being lulled to sleep by the steady beating of his strong heart and his nearby warmth. In her head, as she drifted to sleep, she heard him say the same words she'd said to Roman. "We're connected. Crews is connected to me."

* * *

Again the sound of insistent knocking on Dani's front door woke him – woke them both. She sat up suddenly. She was very disoriented. It was late, but she didn't sleep late.

"If that's Tidwell," he climbed from her bed.

"It's not," she sounded sure. She hoped it wasn't him or there was going to be a row of some sort. Her and Tidwell, Crews and Tidwell…

"It better not be him," she muttered. "Stay here," she demanded.

"Not a chance in hell," he growled. He beat her to the door, still wearing nothing more than his boxers. He yanked the door open expecting to see his former Captain and what he hoped was Dani's former lover. Instead he found a very amused Paul Bodner standing on the stoop.

"So you told her?" Bodner grinned. "Good for you!"

"Shhh," Crews recovered quickly knowing Dani was right on his heels. "No, I haven't told her," he hissed in a hoarse whisper. Bodner looked disappointed, but neither had time to react or pursue their conversation before Reese butted in.

"Told me what?" she asked sounding peeved.

"Nothing," Charlie said succinctly casting a dark look at Bodner intended to silence the smug and smiling FBI Agent. It did not have the desired effect.

"That he's in love with you," Bodner announced to Reese smiling. He was kind of enjoying this.

Charlie rolled his eyes and gripped the doorknob tightly. He counted to ten and looked down knowing Reese would be glaring at him when he did. His eyes shifted down and she was, but instead of anger, there was mirth in her eyes.

"She knows," Bodner observed.

"Yes, she knows," Dani redirected her gaze to him, "and she's standing right here."

"Right," Bodner corrected. "Good morning, Detective Reese," he switched to business mode and then launched into the reason for his presence. "I've checked. LAPD has released his – your – house," he talked to them both. "Your assets are still tied up, bureaucratic nightmare getting those things unfrozen. Should take about a month – give or take," he advised them.

"Great," Charlie groused. "Still no car," he determined that until his accounts were unfrozen he lacked the assets to acquire a new car.

"What's the matter tough guy? The missus never let you drive?" Bodner teased. He knew that Reese did the driving at her insistence.

Both of them leveled dark glares at the FBI Agent.

"You can borrow mine," Bodner offered.

"The minivan?" Crews wondered. _It did have a smooth ride._

"Uh, no," Bodner grinned sheepishly. "That's the wife's. No one drives the wife's minivan." He actually looked serious about it.

"So your family came home?" Charlie inquired. He was sincerely curious.

"Yep," Bodner seemed happy. "Now that's Nevikov's gone, they are safe again. His organization is in shambles, no clear leadership or cohesion. If you ever wanted to become head of a crime syndicate – now is the time," he joked.

"No thanks," Crews replied. He didn't find the joke as humorous as Bodner did.

"How'd you know to find me here?" Crews asked.

"I didn't," Bodner deadpanned. "I came to see her," he gestured to Dani. "She's been having me check on things for a couple weeks now. We were supposed to meet at 10AM," he looked down at his watch. "But someone over slept," he teased.

"Okay," Dani was now angry. "That's enough of that. I'll call you when I need to know more. Keep us posted on what the FBI is doing," she ordered.

"The whole FBI?" he inquired.

"Get out," she ordered holding her front door open.

"She's a pistol," Bodner spoke quietly to Crews on his way past him.

"You have no idea," Charlie answered under his breath while running a hand through his hair to cover his comment.

Bodner chuckled on his way out. What happened after that door closed promised to be entertaining.

Dani glared, shut the door, leaning on it and asked Crews, "You...uh... wanna explain yourself?"

"What? Me…I...," he stammered a bit before deciding on, "uh - no."

"So what now?" she questioned accepting that he would not explain himself and moved on. She let him escape because she really wasn't ready for that conversation either. She pursued out of habit rather than purpose.

Both of them were preoccupied, but not with the fact Crews could go home or that his vast amount of cash would soon be freed up. Instead the idea swirling in the air around them was that he loved her and she knew it.

"I need to shower," he said announced. His intent as to move toward the bedroom, but his legs wouldn't cooperate. While his brain wanted space and distance between her and what she'd just learned about him; his heart and his body wanted her.

"Fine," she snapped. "I need coffee." She turned and walked into the kitchen. She was annoyed but she was not sure with whom she was more upset: Bodner, for certain; Crews, possibly; and then…herself too. Her uneasiness would not abate. A reckoning was coming. The truth of this disclosure was something they could not "unknow."

Their relationship had changed. They could either accept it or fight it.

Charlie knew fighting was futile, but Reese had a stubborn streak. Maybe she always knew that he loved her, but he hadn't. It came to him like a bolt from the blue as Bodner spoke to him sitting in that minivan. _"Still love her. We were partners," Bodner had said._

Charlie's head still twisted strangely when he considered those words and the knowledge was so new to him it still made him uneasy. He considered how hard she fought to get him out of jail. _Was that out of loyalty or love? Perhaps they were the same thing. What was it she'd said in there?_ "You're mine." _Exactly what did that mean? _He stepped into the steam and hoped that when it cleared things would crystallize for him, but he knew it was not likely.

He pulled the curtain and stood there as the hot water washed over him. He was still and quiet and then he heard the door open.


	10. Chapter 10

**Dark Paradise** – Chapter 10

"Uh…hello," he stammered just to let Reese know he was there. Just in case she'd forgotten (in the four minutes since he'd last seen her). It had to be a mistake, her coming in the bathroom while he was in the shower.

She did not respond. Instead he heard the clink of porcelain on porcelain as she lowered the toilet seat and settled in for what promised to be an interesting interrogation. He pulled the curtain back and peeked a look at her.

She looked up and her countenance was strange to him. She was no longer angry, nor was she happy, instead she appeared resigned.

"Wanna tell me what you're doing in here?" he questioned cautiously. Clearly, she did not intend to climb in the shower with him, despite his many fantasies along those lines.

"Simple," she told him. "There's no where else for you to run to in here."

"I'm not…" he began and then out of respect for her dropped the pretense. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I tried not to…I even…." He threw up a series of excuses for why they couldn't, why they shouldn't….but they sounded weak even to his ears.

"Crews, do you love me?" she asked directly.

He was stunned for a moment at the directness of her question, but he recovered quickly. If Reese wanted to have this talk, then have it they would. "Yes," he gave her the truth and let her see it.

"Why?" Her tone told him she couldn't really accept it until he could explain it.

The problem was – he couldn't. He knew better than to lie to her. "I'm not entirely sure."

"Then how do you know it's real?" she questioned his conclusion.

"I just know," he replied. His answer gave no greater clarity. "Do you believe me?"

She mulled his non-answer. She had experienced a similar epiphany about him at the FBI. She just "knew" he wasn't who or what they thought and that was why she chose to go back to her partner and not as an FBI snitch. Some things you just know. She sighed and looked down, understanding that some things are unexplainable.

"I do. Why else would you have gotten into that SUV?"

"I don't know where we go from here," he ventured. "And I don't think you feel the same way," he began.

"Don't be so sure you know everything," she cautioned giving him hope beyond words.

"I'm not sure I know - anything," he joked.

She looked up and his smile was soft and real. It was a surreal situation. For once there was a naked man in her bathroom, one who'd just spent the night in her bed. They hadn't had sex, nor were they about to and she wasn't crazy about the idea of him going back to his home and not being there when she woke up tomorrow. It was unlike anything she'd ever experienced.

"I still think you're a weirdo," she reminded.

"Yes," he agreed. "Not that much has changed."

"Would you like me to leave now?" she offered.

"You don't really want me to say what I'd like," he teased. She looked up at him through long dark lashes. A hint of a smile played against her features. She was fighting the urge to flirt back.

His eyes held hers and neither spoke for a long time. Steam gathered. He thought about turning the water off, but then it would just be quiet. But Reese wasn't quite done yet. "Why haven't you….does this? Do I… scare you?" she wondered.

"No. I'm only afraid of hurting you or putting you in the middle of something dangerous. Honestly, I don't think that I'm very good for you," he explained his reluctance to pursue what he desperately wanted.

Several times in the past twenty four hours he'd had to think hard about indulging his desire to touch her and balance it against what he knew was better or safer for her. She knew he desired her, she just didn't know the strength of his will power.

"Don't you think that's for me to decide?"

There was no right answer to that, so he said nothing at all. She stood and for a moment he thought she was going to leave and the thought of her walking out terrified him.

"Do you feel…" he began and her eyes told him she did, but she was nowhere ready to say those words.

"I don't know. I think…maybe…," she stopped talking, but he knew there was more so he waited and she rewarded his patience. "I really had no idea how much I had come to rely on you, to trust you. Then when I was at the FBI and later when Roman had me…" she shook her head in shame or denial.

"I didn't miss Tidwell, I missed you." He knew this confession was a big deal for her and he waited patiently, though he was clearly very pleased at this development.

"I didn't expect that he would come," she paused collecting herself, "but I knew…with a certainty that I no longer thought possible...that you would." There she'd said it, she admitted what she'd told her mother; that it was Crews, not Tidwell who held her trust, her confidence and perhaps even her affection.

"I will always come for you. You're my partner," he replied softly as if those few words explained everything he'd done.

She grimaced at the reminder of a painful truth. "Tidwell says we aren't partners anymore. He says we won't ever be again. Even if, by some miracle, you get your badge back, they intend to split us up" she recounted the Captain's assertion that LAPD was determined to split them up if they couldn't prevent Crews from working there ever again.

"I'll always be your partner, Dani," his voice was low and husky. "It may not be at work, but I'll always be your partner. You know that don't you?"

She kept looking down, but she nodded and smiled.

"When the idea that I might not see you again sunk through my thick skull, I couldn't accept it. I still have trouble believing how quickly I went from simply caring to this." He told her his fears.

"Then you know where I am," she offered shyly.

"Hey," he pulled her eyes back to him. "Reese, I'm scared too. You and me? We are too important to risk."

"Yeah," she agreed. That was their agreement. The one they both needed to continue. But he needed a little bit more.

"But Reese?" he questioned as she stood to leave. "You're done seeing Tidwell right?"

"Yes, Crews I'm done seeing Tidwell," that made her smile broaden. She enjoyed seeing his little sliver of envy and territoriality. "Also you have about 90 seconds of hot water left, so enjoy that," she grinned and walked out shutting the door.

He looked skyward and groaned as he felt the coldness in the water growing. She really did have a mean streak.


	11. Chapter 11

**Dark Paradise –** Chapter 11

He was showered and dressed, but he still felt unprepared. He ran his hand through his hair ruffling it. It was short enough that combing really wasn't necessary. He hadn't shaved, so his face bore a rust colored haze of hair that he didn't much care for. But soon enough he'd be home and could return to the comforts of a routine.

One thing he'd miss was being in the company of Dani Reese.

When they parted ways he was unsure of what would come next. Knowing what they knew didn't make things any clearer or easier. He reflected that no one really knows what comes next. It was (and remained) the quintessential Zen lesson – the certainty of change and the uncertainty of the future. But it didn't stop him from thinking about how best to keep her around, keep her close. With his house released, he had no real reason to stay with her any longer, but he wanted to.

In the interim, Dani Reese had been having much the same internal discussion as she readied herself to take her partner home – to his home. There were things she had not yet shared with him, tough things, uncomfortable things. And there were questions, so many questions, many of which had no answers. Perhaps the space and a degree of separation was good, healthy, maybe essential to them; in order to determine if each was as necessary to the other as it felt like they were. But she couldn't help feeling that _she'd just got him back_.

"Ready?" he asked. He looked clean and neat, but bore the haze of a beard and mustache growing on his usually clean face. The presence of facial hair did nothing to detract from his attractiveness. He was still a very handsome man. "Reese?" he repeated.

Realizing she hadn't answered, she hurried to catch up, "Yeah, uh yep, ready. You ready to see what LAPD did to your home?" They both knew how destructive police searches could be given the right provocation. Right now, LAPD was about as provoked as one could get and they would enjoy the chance to take that out on Charlie Crews and his home.

"I'm not attached to that house," he recited his Zen mantra eschewing attachment.

"Let's just hope it's still in one piece," she joked darkly.

"Yeah, because if it's not…you're gonna need a longer couch," he joked back.

* * *

Outwardly, the house looked exactly as he'd left it, with the exception of the yellow tape across the front door. He cut the seal with his knife and opened the door, which, as always, was unlocked. However, inside much had changed. Furniture was moved, cushions dislodged, cabinets and shelves emptied onto the floor. They moved quietly, surveying the damage, which while not permanent, would require hours of clean up and reorganizing before anyone could comfortably live there again.

"Fucking bastards," Dani swore softly under her breath. "I hate cops."

Charlie cast her a sideways glance as they ascended the stairs together. "I hate cops too," he said smiling. He liked discovering something new they had in common. He didn't really have time to enjoy it though because as they climbed towards his bedroom he could feel the tension rising.

This was where the real damage could come. He hadn't disassembled his conspiracy wall, he hadn't the opportunity and Ted wasn't there to intervene this time. There were hours of research into his case, files he'd acquired, stolen or otherwise procured – information that could not be replaced in that closet just off the master bedroom.

As they entered his room, the physical damage got worse. It was like the detritus left behind in the wake of an F4 tornado. The bed was a wreck; sheets on the floor, the mattress flipped and pillows littering the room. Clothes from his dresser were thrown all over and the rows of suits and shoes that previously occupied his Spartan closet were lying in crumpled piles on the floor. It would be a "fortune in dry cleaning alone," Dani commented darkly. He didn't really acknowledge her observation because his attention was focused on the walls in front of him through his closet. What he saw were bare walls with no photos, no papers, no reports, nothing. The boxes of research, reports, files and observations were gone; like they never existed.

His partner watched him closely. "Anything missing?" she asked pointedly.

"What? Uh….I…" he stammered. "Maybe," he didn't lie, but he didn't tell the whole truth either. He was distracted by wonder as he ran his hands along the bare walls and empty shelves. "It's just there were some papers in here."

"Uh-huh," she agreed. Dani knew what was in that room. She knew because the first place she went after being released from the hospital was Crews' house. While he was still being questioned by IAD, before they arrested him and locked him away, she came here – to this room. What she found both fascinated and frightened her, but she knew if LAPD came here what it could mean for her partner. So she packed the room away in boxes and the contents now were locked in the trunk of her small Toyota hybrid. She waited to see what Crews would do, what he would say.

"I don't understand," he muttered still not grasping what had happened. "If they have this stuff, then why?" he wondered aloud his head spinning.

"Why aren't you still in jail?" Reese finished for him.

He twisted his head and looked strangely at her. She knew.

"You are not still in jail because LAPD doesn't have what you stored in this room. I do," she confirmed what he knew had to be true.

"You?" his surprise and confusion kept him a step behind her. "Why?"

"I was protecting my partner," she stated the obvious. "You know what they'd do to you if they found what was in this room? Confidential informant files? LAPD personnel records? Police reports? Crews – they would bury you," she sounded annoyed.

"But you never said a word, you never asked me a question," he objected.

She should be angry. The Dani Reese he knew would demand a response to what she'd found. _Had circumstances and events had that profound an effect on her?_

"I figured you'd tell me when you were ready," she let him off easy, so very easily, too easily. "There is one thing I'd like to know about," she mentioned walking out. He followed her in growing curiosity as she trod down the stairs, out the front door and paused at her car to pop the trunk open.

There, in banker's boxes, his treasure trove of information rested safely.

Atop the boxes was a single photograph, face down, torn in two. He knew without looking which photo it was. It was the one Amanda Puryer had given him of Reese on Rayborne's boat. The piece of the puzzle designed to drive a wedge between him and his partner. She picked up the photo, never looking at it and handed it to him. Just the dull white paper with the grey Kodak watermark was visible, but they both knew what lay on the other side of the thick, slick glossy paper.

"Can you tell me about this?"

He reached out and took it from her, but resisted the impulse to turn it over. "It's a photo of you on Rayborne's boat. Rayborne's security consultant gave it to me; a woman named Amanda Puryer. It was meant make me assume you and Rayborne were conspiring about something. I think it was designed to make me mistrust you."

"Why is it torn in two?"

"I decided that what 'seems' is not always what is," he was vague about his answer. Even when he did answer, it was more with his heart than his head. Trying to put that into words simply wasn't possible for him at the moment.

"Uh-huh," she said taking the photo, placing it back in the trunk and shutting it with a resounding thud.

"Are you going to give that stuff back to me?" he asked meekly.

"When I'm done with it," she confirmed hands on her hips staring at him.

"Don't you have like a hundred questions?" he wondered.

"More than that," she stated surely and strongly. But most impressive was that while she had questions – lots of them – they were not about him. Him, she was sure of. "In time… we'll get to all of them, but first we have to clean this place up. Make it livable," she pronounced focusing on the task at hand.

"Reese," he said grasping her wrist as she turned to leave. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want to involve you in all this."

"I am involved. I am connected to you Crews," her statement was a complete answer, but for some reason she felt she owed him more. "They showed me pictures like this when I was at the FBI – pictures of you, with Rayborne, with my father. They were trying…"

"To tear us apart." He finished her sentence as he often did.

"Why do you think that is?"

"Because together we are dangerous," he answered directly.

She smirked at him, but he had to follow up and make certain.

"Are we together Reese?'

She nodded curtly just once.

"After everything you've seen and everything I've done? Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," she confirmed and there was both truth and conviction in her eyes. "Now let's clean this place up. You start downstairs and I'll start in the closet."

He eyed her oddly, prompting an explanation.

"My mother has ensured that I am not only trained, but practiced, at hanging up hanging up and folding clothes."

"Some day I'd like to meet your mother," he said boldly.

"Socially or for business purposes?" she joked.

"Both, but the first thing I'd like to ask her is how she managed to raise such an amazing girl," he crowed and them tempered it from the look on her face, "in the house of Jack Reese."

"If my mother has any say about it, you'll be meeting her sooner rather than later," she foretold. "Now go fix that furniture and find the coffee. We're gonna need it." Her grin was mischievous. Reese didn't do mischief, she was showing him a whole new side. It excited him, but it also found it mildly unsettling. One thing for certain, life with her was never going to be boring.


	12. Chapter 12

**Dark Paradise** – Chapter 12

It was several hours and two pots of coffee later. To be precise it was closing in on 3AM as Dani sat down on the edge of the bed yawned. She looked at the pile of pillows and the fluffy duvet longingly. She'd made the bed first – hours ago when she'd come up here to straighten up. Some people would say her choice was a Freudian slip exposing her desire to explore more than Crews' closet. She preferred to think of it as the biggest most noticeable thing she could tackle and show profound progress at. She'd pushed, pulled and dragged the mattress back onto the box spring, found the sheets reasonably clean and made the bed, throwing the duvet and pillows on it to bring order to one small patch of their universe. Now that patch of order beckoned to her. She lay down there and closed her eyes for just a moment and that was it. She was asleep in seconds.

Crews was exhausted. The kitchen was put back together – mostly. Dishes in the cupboard or drain board or dishwasher and furniture righted. The place was still messier than he liked, but cleaner and neater than most places he'd been. He wandered past the stove and noted the time was 2:48AM. He looked out the window at the sliver of moon in the clear sky and examined his watch. _Was it really that late? _He dragged himself up the stairs to check on Dani's progress and felt heavier with each step. God he hoped she'd made the bed. When he crossed the threshold of the doorway to his room, he smiled because she had. Then he realized she was lying there – in his room, in his bed and his heart swelled. He carefully took off just enough clothing to get comfortable and climbed into bed with her.

"Honey?" he nudged her gently. "Do you wanna take off your shoes?"

She grumbled and rose slowly to her elbows. "I should go home," she pronounced but her heart wasn't in the words.

"No," he said patiently, but firmly. "You should take off your clothes and come to bed."

"What?" she twisted her head and examined him with a skeptical eye.

"I said clothes didn't I?" He recited guiltily. "I meant shoes."

She paused for a second and then shucked her shoes and eased back into the bed. He gently slid an arm under her pillow and wrapped the other one loosely around her. She settled against his chest and her headed rested in the hollow of his shoulder. They both sighed in unison; then chuckled at the symmetry of their expression of relief.

"You totally meant clothes," she told him his accidental word choice wasn't such a surprise.

"You caught me," he admitted. "Now go to sleep," he instructed dropping a kiss into her hair. "Rest Dani," he mumbled as sleep took them both.

* * *

In a room, far away, a dark haired woman watched a closed circuit camera with much interest. Smoke curled around her head from the hand rolled cigarette she smoked. She pulled a mobile phone from her pocket and dialed a number.

"Yes," she spoke with a clipped British accent, "I'm quite aware of the time. Mr. Rayborne asked that we wake him if anything interesting developed. It has."

About ten minutes later, Mickey Rayborne appeared in the doorway of the darkened room. He was wearing pajamas and wrapped in a navy housecoat or smoking jacket. Even woken from a dead sleep he looked composed and neat. He'd obviously dressed, washed his face and combed his hair before visiting her.

"Must you smoke in my house?"

Amanda Puryer regarded him was the studied indifference of a cat and ignored his question entirely. He was still her employer and he paid her handsomely, but he was a bit of an ass.

"Yes, well…you asked me to alert you – immediately – to any developments?" She invited his attention to the grainy image of Crews' bedroom. "We took the liberty of installing cameras in most of his house after the LAPD released it. This occurred just a few moments ago."

Rayborne leaned close and examined the pair curled up in Crews' bed on the small TV screen. "Turn it off," Rayborne snapped.

"But you…" she argued.

"I said…TURN IT OFF," he shouted angrily.

She switched the television screen off, but left the digital video recorder running in the background. He'd asked for this and she didn't know why her doing precisely what he'd asked angered him so. It was worth keeping the video. _One never knew when that sort of thing might come in handy _she reasoned.

"You don't spy on a man in his bedroom," Rayborne grumbled.

She was silent, took a long draw off her cigarette allowing the smoke to fill her lungs, and quietly, but deliberately exhaled it above her head.

"You don't spy on man in his bed," Rayborne repeated less emphatically.

"You asked me to monitor their relationship," she objected in her clipped, precise speech. "I simply did as you requested."

He nodded so she continued.

"Yes, well…it would seem that Detective Reese and Mr. Crews are somewhat more than partners."

He again nodded.

"Shall we continue?"

"Yes," he agreed. "But if anything more exotic than them cuddling occurs, I do NOT want that taped," he gestured to the still running digital video. Little escaped his notice and this had not. "If I find out you are taping them…" he intimated things might get more graphic, "I'm going to be quite disappointed in you."

"Clearly," she studied her nails, "I have no interest in their sex life, but you seem to be quite interested in when and if they have one."

"I don't want to watch it," he hissed.

"Noted," she responded.

"What else have you learned?" he moved on.

"That Detective Reese has the materials from his closet," she revealed what she'd learned. It wasn't just the cameras they'd installed. The house was wired for sound too and she had been eavesdropping most of the night. "She took them before LAPD searched the house. Apparently," she paused for effect, "they've been in the boot of her car the whole time." She smiled at her discovery knowing it would please her employer.

"Dani," he exhaled in relief. "You clever little girl," there was a certain pride in his voice when he said it. "All this time we've been looking, been having our people look and she had it all in the trunk of her car." He chuckled and seemed truly pleased for the first time that night.

"Get the car," he demanded as he left.

"How?" she asked.

"I don't care," he threw back over his shoulder. "Just do it. I want what was in that closet. Just get it. That's what I pay you for," his anger returned as he stalked off into the dark.


End file.
